Writing with Juliet Iwelunmor

A baby bird hid underneath a large green tree afraid. One of his legs was injured and he felt safe underneath the tree, until he heard little footsteps approaching the tree. So unaware of the intent of these footsteps, the bird started whistling and limping trying its best to go very far from the tree. It managed to limp through a small patch of green grass, through a tiny opening between iron bars of a black fence, up until it arrived next to a tree with his mother at the branch of the tree. The bird continued to whistle and his mother whistled back as if to tell the bed to keep moving forward. The mother also flew from the branch down to the bird from time to time, feeding it as it struggled to move far from the footsteps. This incidence, my kids and I witnessed this past weekend, at the back of our home, is a lesson on why knowing your people matters.

First, if life teaches any lessons, know that on occasion, you will be injured and required to continue to push forth through your injury. The injury may be physical or emotional, but still, life will require you to really live through whatever pain you may be experiencing. Next, there will be people, those for you, pushing you to keep living through your injury, living through the pain, no matter how long it takes. It’s for this reason, that I hope to be always yolked to those ready to push me always. I understand that in these moments, you are always on your own. Things will happen, grants for example, may be terminated, but you are still required to live, work through terminations for example, not matter what it takes. In the next coming, days, weeks, months, years, when life throws pain or injury your way, I hope you act like the little bird and soar through this to that. For there will be someone always, ready and prepared to help you reach the skies, no matter how long it takes.